Skip to content
Table of Contents
Williams success headlines Australians abroad with class win
Monday, July 17, 2023
Pictured: Calan Williams in action at the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS
Another class victory for Calan Williams sees the Australian rise to the top of the AWS Gold Class powered Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe standings after an impressive weekend of racing in Italy.
Williams and teammate Niklas Kruetten found themselves on the podium in their two races at Misano, the first being a second place and an 11th place finish – the position from which they would then start for race two.
The pair would then make no mistakes in the second race, as the pair moved up one place and took the class win, resulting in promotion to the top of the class standings.
Another Aussie in the heat was Jordan Love, who did not finish far behind Williams twice in his Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3, finishing 12th in race one and 16th in race two.
Unfortunately, the results weren’t as promising in the Asian interpretation of the Fanatec GT World Challenge, with Broc Feeney enduring a tough result in the JMR Mercedes AMG Triple Eight – his best result being 18th in the second race.
Feeney and teammate Prince Jefri Ibrahim crossed the finish line 22nd in the opening race, while fellow Australians Andrew Macpherson and William Ben Porter would eventually finish 26th, before dropping to 23rd for the final outing.
Turning our attention now to Canada, it was a frustrating day at Will Power’s office in the NTT IndyCar Series after crossing the finish line in 14th place at the Honda Indy Toronto.
All was well for the Queenslander heading into the weekend after doing the Firestone Fast Six for the first time in weeks, starting the race from sixth place and finding himself battling at the front of the pack throughout.
Sadly, a frustrating second half didn’t go the way of Champions 2022, falling outside the top 10.
Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin will settle for sixth after leading for much of the race.
The Kiwi rider survived most of the grid on the alternate tire hoping for an incident later in the race to maintain his track position in the final stint, but that was not the case.
Acting as a supporting class for the IndyCar Series, Lochie Hughes and the USF2000 grid had two races of their own throughout the weekend, giving the Aussie a mixed bag of results.
After starting the first race of the weekend in fifth position, an unfortunate result followed after just seven laps of the race when he was forced to retire from the car after contact with another driver.
The second and final race of the weekend proved luckier, having started ninth, Hughes was able to work his way up to fourth before a safety car period allowed a late move to third. place, where he would eventually finish the race.
The podium in race two salvaged some much-needed series points for Hughes, who currently sits in second place.
There was another Canadian-Australian tie in action last weekend, but this time it happened in Europe where Australian driver Andres Latorre Canon teamed up with Canadian driver Daniel Ali to finish 12th in the Le Mans Cup .
It was the first time the series had raced since early June, with Latorre Canon being Australia’s top finisher ahead of Scott Andrews, Fraser Ross and George Nakas.
Andrews was the second best finisher in 20th alongside Gerald Graut in the #22 United Autosports entry, while another place was behind Ross and Nakas in the #8 Graff Racing.
Last but not least, Taylor Gill enjoyed her second round of the 2023 FIA Rally Star program in Austria, where a top ten finish and third in class capped what was an overall excellent weekend.
After picking up his maiden Rally San Marino victory last time out, Gill was one of three Rally Star entrants to finish in the top 10 overall, finishing three seconds behind Jose Abito Caparo and 13 seconds behind the winner of the Romet Jurgenson class.
